Robert Butler, Montreal, Canada Home Inspector

The Big O, a new EPDM roofing membrane

Here is a relatively new roofing product, especially when used for residential buildings. It will replace the older tar and gravel roofing systems for flat roofs.

EPDM ethylene propylene diene Monomer (M-class) rubber  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPDM_rubber

In commercial applications large sheets of the EPDM, a rubber type material are laid over the roof surface. If more is needed, other sheet are laid adjacent to the first and overlap. The overlapping seams are glue/welded together to create a watertight membrane that covers the whole roof and extends up the sides of parapet walls to under the cap flashing. All passthroughs and openings are sealed in the same manner.

In some applications the membrane is weighted down rater than being mechanically attached. This allows for large widths to expand and contract with out detriment or leaks at attachment points.

Residential applications can be done differently as they usually are not as large. At regular intervals large disk like washers are screwed to the sheathing/framing below (often through new layers of rigid insulation). The disks are then covered with glued down patches of the same roofing material.

LEEDS schmeeds, Who needs LEEDS !

Or Bullshit Baffles Brains:

I wrote this a s a comment to a blog posted today by Jay Markanich; I Have Never Seen This Before .

I agree with Jay. This is potentially a dangerous and unsafe panel installation. The post got lots of comments and then Jay told me (comment #18) that the supervisor/salesman there justified it by saying it was LEEDS certified.

As far as I'm concerned "LEEDS" is just being used as another jargon term that both impresses and confuses consumers at the same time. It has not yet developed into the standard that it might become someday.

It stands for "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Standard". That’s all. This is developed as a focus for architects and engineers to work toward energy efficiency and sustainable building practices and materials.

It's not a building standard, but it will become a design standard. It's to be an evolving reference. What is up to LEEDS rating this year will not be LEEDS rated next year.

Buildings are not LEEDS certified. The building design is LEEDS certified, dated for the completed set of drawings.

That’s nice but it isn't everything. It is currently an incomplete developing standard for design. It's a starting point and will take generations to become a high quality reference that it has the potential to be.

But if contractors and developers keep using it as a 'buzz word' then it won't develop and because it will become meaningless.

Drawings are not the building and certified drawings do not mean a certified building. Judicious supervision and frequent inspection will get you to a certified building status. (Building, fire and electrical construction and safety codes.)

Builders are expected to follow the plans, but the plans don't tell them how to work. As usual they are expected to follow all the normal trade practices as well as all building, fire and electrical codes.

In the process they are must integrate safety into the work place and the construction. Common sense is to be applied.

It just hasn't been here. (In the case depicted by Jay Markanich’s blog article today which shows a large electrical distribution panel backing directly onto a shower wallboard.)

Plans are always modified in detail through the construction process to accommodate practical limits in materials and space requirements. Sometimes the plans are redrawn and sometimes not. (The changes are covered by annotated addendums and sketches.)

I can give you 2 solutions that would solve the problem and not cost any more money, if they were done at the right point in the build.

Bullshit Baffles Brains. That catchy little phrase has been around for a long time for good reason. So if LEEDS certified is just going to be another buzzword, I say who needs it.

Buying a home, even new, is like buying a used car.

In a factory, so the legend goes, if your car is made on a hung-over Monday morning or a weekend-anticipating sloppy Friday, it might come out less than par. But it is still quality tested and within acceptable standards.

So you don’t typically ”inspect” at new car at the point of purchase. You are well advised to do so for a used car.

Housing should be treated the same way, even new homes. You all understand the sense of having a ‘used’ home inspected, similar to a used car.

But houses are not factory built. There’s more that a few hung-over Monday mornings occurring during the build period. And it’s not even the same guys doing the same design or having the same training level each time.

Mistakes are made, errors occur and things are forgotten or missed. Everybody is in a hurry. And it's definitely a tougher market out there.

This spring I've had a larger number of 'issues' found during my inspections that used to be negotiated to resolution. Now more of them are causing the sale to crash and burn.

After her second inspection one client, herself a part time realtor complained to me that this deal was going to fail because of something I had found. (The first home she had me inspect had "pyrite' issues.)

I said, " Had they made a reasonable settlement would you have bought the house?" "Yes" was the answer!

"If I hadn't identified the presence of asbestos, would you have been better served? " "No!" was the answer!

So it's as if you bought a used car and about a month or so goes by and you now you suddenly have to put in a new transmission.

What are you going to say to the mechanic who inspected it before you bought it? Plenty, I'm sure.

What? You didn’t have an inspection? Oh……….

We don't need to get it inspected before, that's the buyers expense, right?

Well ....... consider this;

You have to have it tested, you can't prove it, you can only say you suspect it, unless........ it's labeled

But there it was;

Yes it's labeled. This is rare,....SO rare... I never ever expected to see it.

Here it is, the photo flipped over so you can read the label;

Even though part of the label is missing it's very clear what it says and is repeated in the red area of the tag.

This home was a 1920's construction, very solid and very well built. At the time of it's installation this fireproof pipe insulation was one of the good guys. It was state of the art and the best you could buy, the best you could have, period.

So naturally, this is not rare in that neighbourhood and is commonly dealt with now by removal by a properly trained contractors. In this home it was all easily accessible and could be removed from this unoccupied dwelling fairly easily.

However, this became one of the 'issues' for an otherwise marvellous, excellent house in a very desirable neighbourhood.

Because this and a few other details were a surprise to the buyers this transaction is at risk of collapsing. Both agents worked hard to get this deal to work, and to save it they will now have an uphill battle.

Sadly this could have been avoided. Had there been a sellers or pre-listing inspection this 'surprise' could all have been avoided.

This sale had gotten to the point of the buyers inspection that I performed, after many negotiations and counter offers. The price ended up lower than the ask and the buyers had budgeted for certain renos in addition to the purchase price.

So it was a tight, fragile situation before the buyers inspection report provided any information on the physical conditions.

Had the sellers or the agent known the facts before listing it would be an easy matter to price repairs, factor it into the pricing and proceed with confidence.

Even when repairs are not done, simply declaring or making the information available to buyers prior to receiving offers means that there are no surprises when a later inspection is done.

No surprises means no upsets, so if you, or people you know, are planning to or are trying to sell a home, they can be proactive and have a pre-listing inspection done.

The idea that an inspection "is the buyers expense" should be re-thought. It's a false economy and causes a lot of stress.

What do you think the sellers and agents trying to salvage this sale would say today?

N.B. Asbestos fiber dust has been identified as a known carcinogen. It's considered hazardous only when inhaled. You can and probably have held it or products containing it in your hands, quite safely. It's removal requires specific protocols and procedures that control and limit the creation and spread of dust and asbestos containing materials and ensure that all products have been completely removed with out residue remnants. Normally at the end of the process an air quality test is done to verify that removal has been successful.

A BOLO.... yes ...'Be On the LookOut",,, for a 'bad news' inspection!

Monday, my neighbour flagged me down as I was heading out for the day.

I stopped and rolled down my window and we exchanged New Years pleasantries. (We hadn’t seen each other since before.)

He’d stopped me to ask for a couple of business cards as he had someone he wanted to refer to me for a home inspection.

So I handed him a few and said have some of the new ones that have my mug shot (my photo) on them. I said I do that to help market myself similar to real estate agents and as a security to agents and clients.

He said ‘funny you should mention that’, and proceeded to tell me the story of his brother’s experience.

His brother had been living in a rural part of the province and was putting his house up for sale. An offer came in and an inspection was scheduled.

On the day of the inspection the agent showed up, followed by the inspector. The prospective buyers were not coming.

After a while the owner (my neighbour’s brother) began to feel uneasy. He didn’t feel comfortable with the way the inspection was being conducted. He felt the guy wasn’t looking at the building so much as looking around.

He got uncomfortable enough to tell the agent that; it was off; he said he wasn’t feeling well. He made excuses and asked them to leave. So they did.

About a week later that agent was found tied up in a house along with the owner of that house.

The man posing as the inspector had pulled out a gun, tied them up and proceeded to rob the place.

He then called in an accomplice and they also stole both the homeowner’s and the agent’s cars.

The police responded to an anonymous tip to find both men tied up and robbed, the house robbed and their cars gone, stolen.

Apparently this was a pattern of three or four robberies in that region. Sometimes the victims got free after a few hours and got help, and other times anonymous calls were made to the police within 24 hours.

How’s that for a ‘bad news’ inspection!

N.B. I've googled this a few different ways to see if I could find any confirmation. No luck.
 This may be because I don't know precisely when or exactly where it occurred, or it may have only been reported locally in a French language paper.
 But I know my neighbour and he's sure it happened.

Even if it turns out to be urban myth, it is a cautionary tale.

(Originally posted on my web site, January 7th, 2011 www.aspectinspection.com )